What is Advent in the wake of such tragedy?
How can we “Prepare for Christmas” when there is so much pain and hurt?
These were the circumstances God chose to change things and enter this world of wailing and crying –
this world of unjust actions by a few.
Yes, this is precisely when God became one us.
It is in times like these that we need a little Christmas.
And, it is times like these that we need a little Advent in church to help us prepare for Christmas –
a real Christmas.
Third Sunday of Advent
Jeremiah 31:15-17, 31-33
Matthew 2:16-18
So, this is our third Sunday of Advent –
that time the church sets aside for us to use to prepare for the coming of Christmas.
The theme I am working with this year is
Preparing for Christmas . . . when times are tough.
I personally have found this to be a particularly tough week.
There was this killing at a shopping in mall in Portland, Oregon.
And Friday, the event in Newtown, Connecticut.
(And these events were right after the event in upstate Pennsylvania where a man pulled his gun during church and shot the organist.)
I was pretty much glued to the television Friday as events unfolded and more and more details of the tragedy were uncovered.
And sometime yesterday, I decided I just could not go on with the sermon I had planned for today.
The first response I had was to pray . . .
Pray for those innocent children,
pray for those adults who lost their life protecting the children . . .
Pray for the children who survived the tragedy . . .
(some having seen the bloody lifeless bodies of their friends and teachers) . . .
Pray for the families of those children who perished,
pray for the families of all the children in the school who are now dealing with the aftermath .. .
Pray for the professional responders who arrived at the school building in very short order,
and entered the building not knowing what they would find,
and observing the carnage laid out before them,
and escorting all the hiding children from the building to safety and to reunite with their families,
and dealing with all the those little lifeless bodies.
(There were pictures of some of these responders – grown men – weeping openly at what they had seen and what they had to do.)
And, prayers for the whole community now weeping for the overwhelming loss.
"For those who bear tonight the unbearable burden
of unimaginable grief,
who in their agony yell at the forces of fate...
For those who moan and those who faint,
for those who rage and those who pray,
we moan and pray along with you.
For tonight, those were our children too.
Dear God, May a legion of angels
come upon these parents.
Bring to them an otherworldly touch,
an otherworldly comfort,
an otherworldly sense that their children are well --
that they are safe with God
and shall be with them always.
Give to those who grieve what no mortal can give...
the touch of Your Hand upon their heart.
May all touched by this darkness
be Lit by Your grace.
Please wipe away all tears, dear God.
as only You can do."
What is Advent in the wake of such tragedy?
How can we “Prepare for Christmas” when there is so much pain and hurt?
Of course, we were reminded a couple of weeks ago, that this is precisely the way things were when that first Christmas came to be.
Times were tough all over.
Lives were controlled by forces over which there was no control.
What Rome wanted, Rome got.
What Herod ordered, Herod got.
In fact Herod was so ticked off at the wise men’s trickery, that he flew off the handle,
and sent out armies to find and murder all baby boys in the land under the age of two.
There was wailing and crying all around.
These were the circumstances in which folks were living then.
These were the circumstances God chose to change things and enter this world of wailing and crying –
this world of unjust actions by a few.
Yes, this is precisely when God became one us.
Emmanuel! , we say.
God-is-with-us.
The Christmas message is a message of hope in a hopeless world.
The message of hope in a hopeless time.
The message of hope for folks who had little reason for hope.
John would write “light came into the world of darkness.”
And this gets us back to what Advent is for, and what Advent does for us.
Advent is the time for us to be reminded of what we really celebrate at this time of year.
Yes, it’s true, like the rest of the world around us, it is so easy for us to get distracted from this most basic message of our faith.
It is so easy for us to begin to think Christmas is about something else –
something like gifting presents,
or sending cards,
or going to parties,
or family dinners,
or singing of carols,
or any of the other “secular traditions” that have
sprung up at this time of year.
After all, Christmas makes us feel good.
That is, unless we are too stressed out.
Unless we our loneliness takes over.
Unless the tough times of our life prevent us from celebrating like we are told we should.
Unless we are ill, or experiencing pain, or simply unable to do much of anything at all.
Unless there are no children in our lives – so we see nothing to celebrate.
Unless we are just too old to care much anymore.
Unless we experience a tragedy in our lives –
a tragedy that trumps celebration.
Then Christmas does not make us feel good.
But, this is when our church says Christmas begins to make the most sense.
This is when Christmas becomes real.
This is when Christmas takes on whole new meaning.
You see, Christmas is about Emmanuel!
Christmas is about God being with us now.
Christmas is about hope.
Christmas is about hope in a hopeless world.
Christmas is hope in hopeless times.
“The time will come,” the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah, “when I will be your God and you will be with me.”
Christmas is about Emmanuel . . . in times of trouble.
Christmas is about Emmanuel . . . in times of distress.
Christmas is about Emmanuel . . . in times of distraction.
Christmas is about Emmanuel . . . in times of uncertainty.
Christmas is a recognition that God is with us.
God is with us –
comforting the distraught,
aiding the afflicted,
giving new life to old bones,
bringing relief to the displaced.
God is with us.
The light shines in the darkness.
And the darkness cannot put it out.
It keeps on shining.
Christmas is not to be belittled.
We ignore the message of Christmas at our own peril.
“We are lighthouses of sacred love”, Anne Lamott says.
But, it is so easy to get distracted, isn’t it?
It is so easy to not get it.
It is so easy to forget, or to overlook, or to obfuscate the message and meaning of Christmas.
We so need this time in church at Advent to hear about Christmas.
Because when we don’t understand Christmas, it is easy to get bogged down in the wailing and the lamenting,
and the wondering why and wither,
and the projecting and conjecturing.
And – especially in days like we have been through – it gets overwhelming.
What to do?
Inaction becomes the order of the day.
We get depressed – and the song is no longer sung.
But, Christmas is about God being with us.
Christmas is about God embracing us.
Christmas is about God entering our very being – pulsing through our veins –
providing the life force
from which we can never sever.
We are not alone.
God knows. We are not alone.
God wants us to know. We are not alone.
We don’t have to experience our feelings alone.
We don’t have to live our lives in isolation.
We don’t have to have secrets that we keep hidden.
God is with us.
Caring.
Sharing.
Providing.
Enabling.
Like I’ve said every Sunday, it is in times like these that we need a little Christmas.
And, it is times like these that we need a little Advent in church to help us prepare for Christmas –
a real Christmas.
Listen to these words from Madeline L’Engle from her poem, First Coming:
God did not wait till the world was ready
till ... nations were at peace.
God came when the heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
God did not wait for the perfect time.
God came when the need was deep and great.
God dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. God did not wait
til hearts were pure. In joy God came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
God came, and God’s light would not go out.
God came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain.
God came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
God came . . .
And became one of us . . .
A more significant act has never happened.
And it is something worth celebrating.
It is something worth singing about.
It is something worth talking about.
It is something worth sharing.
Friends, even in these most depressing times –
especially in these most depressing of times –
my hope is for you to have the most blessed Christmas ever.
Amen.
The Congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service, Sunday, December 16, 2012.
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